which are called bulls. The first edition had

this line:

What is this wit

Where wanted, scorn'd; and envied where

acquir'd?

"How," fays the critick,

"can wit be fcorn'd " where it is not? Is not this a figure frequently employed in Hibernian land? The person that wants this wit may indeed be

fcorned, but the fcorn fhews the honour "which the contemner has for wit." Of this remark Pope made the proper ufe, by correcting the paffage.

I have preferved, I think, all that is reafonable in Dennis's criticifm; it remains that justice be done to his delicacy. "For his ac

quaintance (fays Dennis) he names Mr. Walsh, who had by no means the qualifi"cation which this author reckons abfolutely "neceffary to a critick, it being very certain "that he was, like this Effayer, a very indif"ferent poet; he loved to be well-dreffed; " and I remember a little young gentleman "whom Mr. Walfh used to take into his company, as a double foil to his person and "capacity.

3

capacity.-Enquire between Sunninghill and Oakingham for a young, fhort, fquab gentleman, the very bow of the God of Love, " and tell me whether he be a proper author "to make perfonal reflections?-He may "extol the antients, but he has reason to "thank the gods that he was born a modern; "for had he been born of Grecian parents, “and his father confequently had by law had "the abfolute difpofal of him, his life had "been no longer than that of one of his poems, the life of half a day.-Let the person of a gentleman of his parts be ne

ver fo contemptible, his inward man is ten "times more ridiculous; it being impoffible "that his outward form, though it be that "of downright monkey, fhould differ fo "much from human shape, as his unthinking immaterial part does from human un

derstanding." Thus began the hoftility between Pope and Dennis, which, though it was fufpended for a short time, never was appeafed. Pope feems, at firft, to have attacked him wantonly; but though he always profeffed to defpife him, he discovers, by mentioning him often, that he felt his force or his venom.

Of this Effay Pope declared that he did not expect the fale to be quick, because not one gentleman in fixty, even of liberal education, could understand it. The gentlemen, and the education of that time, feem to have been of a lower character than they are of this. He mentioned a thoufand copies as a numerous impreffion,

Dennis was not his only cenfurer; the zealous papifts thought the monks treated with too much contempt, and Erafmus too ftudioufly praised; but to thefe objections he had not much regard.

The Effay has been translated into French by Hamilton, author of the Comte de Grammont, whofe verfion was never printed, by Robotham, fecretary to the King for Hanover, and by Refnel; and commented by Dr. Warburton, who has difcovered in it fuch order and connection as was not perceived by Addifon, nor, as is faid, intended by the author.

Almoft every poem, confifting of precepts, is fo far arbitrary and immethodical, that many

many

of the paragraphs may change places with no apparent inconvenience; for of two, or more pofitions, depending upon fome remote and general principle, there is feldom any cogent reason why one fhould precede the. other. But for the order in which they ftand, whatever it be, a little ingenuity may easily give a reason. It is poffible, fays Hooker, that by long circumduction, from any one truth all truth may be inferred. Of all homogeneous truths at leaft, of all truths refpecting the. fame general end, in whatever feries they may be produced, a concatenation by intermediate ideas may be formed, fuch as, when it is once fhewn, fhall appear natural; but if this order be reverfed, another mode of connection equally fpecious may be found or made. Aristotle is praised for naming Fortitude first of the cardinal virtues, as that without which no other virtue can steadily be practised; but he might, with equal propriety, have placed Prudence and Justice before it, fince without Prudence Fortitude is mad; without Juftice, it is mifchievous.

As the end of method is perfpicuity, that feries is fufficiently regular that avoids ob C 4

fcurity;

fcurity; and where there is no obfcurity it will not be difficult to discover method.

In the Spectator was published the Meffiah, which he firft fubmitted to the perufal of Steele, and corrected in compliance with his criticisms,

It is reasonable to infer, from his Letters, that the verses on the Unfortunate Lady were written about the time when his Essay was published. The Lady's name and adventures I have fought with fruitless enquiry.

I can therefore tell no more than I have learned from Mr. Ruffhead, who writes with the confidence of one who could truft his information. She was a woman of eminent rank and large fortune, the ward of an unkle, who, having given her a proper education, expected like other guardians that she should make at least an equal match; and such he propofed to her, but found it rejected in favour of a young gentleman of inferior condition.

Having discovered the correspondence between the two lovers, and finding the young

lady